Author: George Malik

The Grand Rapids Griffins have re-signed Toledo Walleye starting netminder Pat Nagle to a 2-way AHL/ECHL contract:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Thursday re-signed goaltender Pat Nagle to a one-year contract.

A native of Bloomfield, Mich., Nagle spent majority of the 2018-19 campaign with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye and helped backstop the club to their first-ever appearance in the Kelly Cup Finals before falling in Game 6 to the Newfoundland Growlers. In 24 postseason games, Nagle compiled a 14-10 record, a 2.03 goals against average, a 0.931 save percentage and one shutout. He paced the ECHL in postseason minutes (1481), saves (679) and games played, while ranking second in both wins and GAA, and fourth in save percentage. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound netminder’s playoff run came on the heels of a regular season during which he was among the league’s leaders with 22 wins (T10th), a 2.81 GAA (17th), a 0.910 save mark (T16th), three shutouts (T7th), 41 games played (T10th) and 2411 minutes (11th).

The Red Wings made four players available during the afternoon session at the summer development camp, and the players’ scrum interviews are as follows:

Taro Hirose, the poster boy for college try-out success, said that he hasn’t actually talked to many of the Wings’ NCAA try-outs save Odeen Tufto and Alex Limoges, but Hirose did say that he’s going to spend the summer in Detroit, and he’s working hard to get stronger while continuing to focus on being a shifty player that anticipates his opponents’ moves so as to maximize his small size:

Jack Adams had a tremendously difficult season off the ice as his older brother passed away, and Adams reflected upon some of his difficulties while discussing his attempts to get his 6’6,” 204-pound frame back to normal as he used hockey as a coping skill. Adams also discussed his current events major:

Filip Larsson is hard to get a a quote out of sometimes, and the “elusive goalie” spent half of his interview shrugging off questions with “maybes,” “probably’s,” and, “I think so’s,” but when he was engaged, he was refreshingly honest about not taking an AHL spot with the Grand Rapids Griffins for granted, and he really remains “in the moment” in a big way as he prepares to climb the professional ropes:

Finally, Malte Setkov, who now stands at 6’7,” spoke in his ever-easy-going manner about the advantages of being a large defenseman, his relative satisfaction with his past season in the Swedish Allsvenskan and his desire to continue building his strength as he tries to play full-time at the SHL level:

Red Wings prospect Filip Zadina has returned from an injured hamstring muscle:

.@filip_zadina now on the ice at #DRWDC after missing the first two days with a tweaked hamstring. pic.twitter.com/yzYJ3a2LSI— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 27, 2019

Update: Zadina didn’t take part in all the drills. He was out for about half an hour.

The Red Wings made three defensemen available for interview on Thursday morning, and Gustav Lindstrom led the trio.

Lindstrom discussed his decision to come to North America, his fondness for the “smaller rink,” his goals for the upcoming season and the lessons he learned while playing for the Frolunda Indians, who won the SHL championship:

Defenseman Alec Regula, who played for the London Knights this past season, is trying to nurse a sore knee back to health without surgery. Regula both worked on the powerhouse London Knights’ blueline and skated for the Grand Rapids Griffins as a black ace, but he admitted that being unable to do more than work out right now has been the most frustrating part of his career thus far:

Seth Barton also spoke with the media corps today, and the 6’3,” 174-pound UMass-Lowell defenseman discussed his attempts to get bigger and stronger as he reflected upon the lessons he’s learning at development camp:

The Detroit Red Wings are streaming Art Regner and Ken Kal’s broadcast from the third day of the Red Wings’ summer development camp:

Red Wings draft pick Ethan Phillips stands at 5’9″ and 146 pounds, but the Red Wings thought highly enough of the diminutive forward to pick him with the 97th overall pick in this year’s draft.

This morning, the Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses the winding developmental path that Phillips has taken thus far, as well as some of his future goals as he prepares to play for Boston College this fall:

Phillips produced 31 goals and 33 assists in 45 games in 2017-18 with the U16 Selects team. He entered the program in 2016.

“The whole development program they had there seemed to be the best spot for me,” Phillips said. “Playing against my own age group at the time made sense because I was very undersized. Having the skills coaches there, and the ice and gym is always there for you, was really big.

“I left because I went up to Sioux Falls in October and things went really well, I played four games and started talking with the coaches at Selects Academy and Sioux Falls to see if maybe it was the right move for me to jump to the USHL, especially with it being my draft year.  I got a lot of support from the coaches at Selects – they want to move guys on, so they are happy to see that, that I have the opportunity.”

Phillips’ next move is to Boston University (also home to Wings prospects Kasper Kotkansalo and newcomer Robert Mastrosimone), where he’ll work on balancing hockey and an education. It’s an ideal path for a guy who at 5-foot-9 weighs just 145 pounds.

“It’s definitely not as much of a demanding schedule as some of the junior leagues where you’re playing 70, 80 games a year,” Phillips said. “You’re playing 40, 45 games a year in college and you’re not playing throughout the week. You get to take advantage of that time in the rink, in the gym; your body gets to recover more. That’s a big thing for me.”

Continued

Former Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman appeared on 97.1 the Ticket’s Jamie and Stoney Show this morning, giving a 12-minute interview:

Bowman now works as a senior advisor to the Chicago Blackhawks, and Bowman addressed several Red Wings-related topics.

Bowman is based in Sarasota, Florida, so he’s taken in a lot of Tampa Bay Lightning games during Steve Yzerman’s reign as GM, and Bowman had this to say about the Wings’ decision to draft Moritz Seider 6th overall:

“Steve, he doesn’t care,” Scotty Bowman told the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket. “What you have to do running a team is, sometimes you have to try to hit some home runs. And I think this guy could be a home run. I really do. I know from the talk about him that he was good the last part of last year.” 

As an 18-year-old playing in Germany’s top pro league last season, Seider showed the maturity of his game. He’s a terrific skater who’s calm under pressure. He moves the puck quickly and cleanly. He thinks the game a couple plays ahead. 

When Seider put a stamp on his strong season at the World Championships last month, his draft stock really began to rise. The Red Wings were far from the only team in on him. Bowman, a senior advisor for the Blackhawks (his son Stan is the team’s GM), said Seider was a trending name across the NHL. 

And the league could get to know him quickly. 

“I don’t know if he’s ready to come in right away, but he’s very close because he played against men. And I know that the Blackhawks had him rated really high. Everyone had him rated high. He was either going to be the second or third defenseman drafted,” said Bowman. 

Continued

The Detroit Red Wings’ summer development camps aren’t reserved for the Red Wings’ draft picks and signed prospects alone.

The Red Wings welcome both free agents who may never sign with the Wings and some AHL-contracted players who may never play in Detroit or even Grand Rapids to their summer development camps and fall prospect tournaments, and the invites and AHL contracts receive just as much attention and investment in terms of time, energy and money spent on equipment, on and off-ice training, education and nutrition that the Wings’ top prospects receive.

As a result, both Grand Rapids Griffins coach Ben Simon and Toledo Walleye coach Dan Watson, who both participate in the summer development camps and fall prospect tournaments, are watching and evaluating potential employees.

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe spoke with coach Watson regarding his status as watching possible Walleye players in action:

“If the Red Wings feel like these players need more playing time, a lot of times they will send them to us to continue their development,” Watson said.

Rookie forward Zach Gallant, who was drafted in the third round of the 2017 draft, got his first taste of pro hockey with the Walleye this past season. Gallant played in four games for Toledo at the end of the regular season and had four points with one goal and three assists. Gallant, a 20-year-old native of London, Ont., then had 12 points (6 G, 6 A) during the Walleye’s playoff run.

Forward David Pope, who was picked in the fourth round of the 2013 draft, also played for the Walleye this season.

The team also had several other players that are under contract with the Red Wings who contributed last season. Goaltenders Pat Nagle and Fulcher, along with forwards Jordan Topping, Dylan Sadowy, Bryan Moore, and defensemen Marcus Crawford and Trevor Hamilton, all were assigned to Toledo from Grand Rapids.

Walleye general manager Neil Neukam has called the relationship between Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Toledo “one of the strongest in professional hockey.”

“We look forward to its continued growth,” Neukam said.

Continued

The Detroit Red Wings’ prospects spent Tuesday generating data and working on shooting drills; Wednesday yielded a massive change-up as split squads of defensemen and then forwards worked with one of two skill development experts.

Team Lindsay, which includes players like Taro Hirose (for part of the day, at least), Gustav Lindstrom and Jesper Eliasson, worked with Swedish skill development coach Daniel Broberg, a tattooed, bearded Swede who had skaters of all varieties jumping, hopping and otherwise leaping their way through stickhandling drills that first challenged their hands and then required leaps of faith.

Team Lindsay starts the day off with some skill drills. #DRWDC pic.twitter.com/mfc25SH4ot— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 26, 2019

The skaters played some tag, too:

The OHL’s Owen Sound Attack drafted Moritz Seider during last year’s import draft, hoping that Seider, who ended up playing for Adler Mannheim in Germany, would skate in the Canadian Hockey League this past season. According to the Owen Sound Sun-Times’ Greg Cowan, the Attack have not given up hope that Seider may yet join their ranks:

Seider has a number of options available to him for a 2019-20 landing spot including returning to Germany where he plays in the top-tier professional league (DEL) with the reigning champions, Alder Mannheim. If signed by Detroit to an entry-level contract Seider could immediately begin his North American career with the Red Wings, or their American Hockey League affiliate in Grand Rapids. The Red Wings organization may decide, in conjunction with Seider, that he is best served to spend a season in the CHL, in which case he would be assigned to the Owen Sound Attack. That would force the Attack to make an additional roster move.

“We’ll worry about that when we worry about that, which would be an absolutely fantastic problem to have,” DeGray said.

The Attack boss contacted the Red Wings following their selection of Seider, reaching out to assistant general manager Kris Draper.

“It’s so fresh. They don’t know even who the player is they selected as far as a Detroit Red Wing goes. They know him as a young kid in the German DEL men’s league, but how does that translate?” DeGray said. “I would say they know enough about Owen Sound, me, the program, that they will be comfortable sending him here if that’s the way they choose to go . . . where do we fit in the food chain? It’s probably somewhere right near the bottom.”

Continued, and as far as I know, the Wings and Seider will make their decision as to Seider’s 2019-2020 team after he participates in the prospect tournament and main training camp.